Trump signs spending bill to end longest shutdown in US history

President Donald Trump signed a spending bill to reopen the government and end the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

He signed the short-term bill just hours after the House of Representatives approved it by a 222-209 vote on Wednesday night and two days after the Senate narrowly approved the same bill.

Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said the government will now “resume normal operations” after “people were hurt very badly” by the 43-day shutdown.

Many government services have been suspended since October, and nearly 1.4 million federal employees have been furloughed or working without pay. Food aid also remained uncertain and air travel was disrupted across the country.

While government services are expected to reopen in the coming days, disruptions to air travel are also expected to ease ahead of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had reduced air traffic due to staffing shortages due to the shutdown.

This had direct implications for members of Congress trying to reach the nation’s capital on Wednesday for the House vote.

Wisconsin Republican Derrick Van Orden rode his motorcycle nearly 1,000 miles across the country to cast his vote in the House of Representatives before sending it to the president’s desk.

The bill only provides funding to keep the government open until Jan. 30, when lawmakers will once again have to find a way to fund the government.

Before signing the legislation, Trump repeatedly claimed responsibility for shutting down the Democratic Party. “They did this for purely political reasons,” he said.

“Remember what they did to our country when it comes to midterms and other issues,” he added.

Senate Democrats were able to trigger the shutdown despite being a minority in the chamber because Republicans needed some Democratic votes to pass a stopgap funding bill.

They initially refused to support the bill, demanding that Republicans agree to extend health insurance subsidies for low-income Americans that are set to expire at the end of the year.

Republicans have suggested that reopening the government could be followed by a health care debate.

But on Sunday, a group of eight Senate Democrats broke away from the party and helped pass the spending package. They voted for it in exchange for the promise of a vote on health subsidies in December.

This sparked outrage within the Democratic Party and public criticism from figures such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader in the House, said the package “does not provide any significant benefit to solving America’s health crisis.”

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine was among the Democrats who voted in favor of the compromise. He pushed back on that criticism and said the federal workers he represented were “thankful” for agreeing to the deal.

Hours before the House of Representatives voted to reopen the government, Democrats in Congress watched as their newest lawmaker was sworn into office.

The addition did not provide enough leverage to influence whether health care subsidies would be included in the government funding bill, but Democrats welcomed Adelita Grijalva to their ranks to applause in the chamber.

Arizona’s Democratic representative was elected on September 23, but the House has not been in session since September 19 and his swearing-in has been delayed. He is stepping into the seat once held by his father, Raul Grijalva, who died earlier this year.

Democrats immediately enlisted their newest member to support a petition to vote on legislation requiring the release of files on late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The petition would have to wait seven legislative days before it could be called into session, and House leadership would then have to schedule a vote within two legislative days.

House Speaker Mike Johnson surprised many on Wednesday and said he would schedule a vote for next week.

The deal negotiated over the weekend extended federal government funding through Jan. 30.

This also includes full-year funding for the Department of Agriculture, as well as funding for military construction and legislative agencies.

The bill also includes guarantees that all federal employees will be paid overtime during the shutdown and funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food assistance to one in eight Americans through next September.

The package also includes an agreement for a December vote on extending health subsidies, for which Democrats expect a concession.

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